Brent Council argue that closing the libraries will help them find the £104m of savings it needs to make whilst and enable them to reinvest in the service, leading to "fewer, but better-resourced libraries".

The outcome of the court case will make ominous reading for campaign groups up and down the country where libraries are under threat as local councils scramble to make spending cuts.

Pullman - the children's fiction writer best known for the His Dark Materials series - described the libraries closures as "political bullshit" in October and claimed the protests were a "war against stupidy".